Sunday, February 10, 2013 marks the beginning of the Chinese calendar's Year of the Snake. The year of the snake is the 6th in Chinese cycle of time recording. The Chinese calendar like almost every calendar that is not European, views time as a cyclical pattern, not the linear perspective that the Western Christian Gregorian calendar does.

The Chinese Calendar's cycle of 12 years are designated by essence of 12 animals; the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig, in that order. Chinese myth tells a story of the ancient Jade emperor sending an invitation to the animal kingdom and the aforementioned 12 animals responded. The Chinese animal zodiac also signifies 5 elements; Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth. The combination of the animal year and the element of the 12 year cycle makes an overall 60 year cycle. 2013 translates to the year of the Water Snake. The Black Water Snake to be specific.

Observing the picture above you will notice the previous snake years. Each year was a year of monumental human events. Going back past 1941 you will notice that 1929 and 1917 were snake years also. Some historical events of snake years past are -

2001 - September 11th catastrophe, China is admitted to the WTO (World Trade Organization), The Human Genome is sequenced, The United States withdraws from all anti ballistic missile agreements and treaties, The Tech Bubble bursts.

1989 - The Soviet Union collapses along with the Berlin Wall , The Tiananmen Square uprisings in China, The United States invades Panama signaling a major shift in U.S. foreign policy by becoming an aggressor nation, The Savings and Loan scandal and subsequent $159 billion dollar bailout of that system (sound familiar?)

1977 - The Star Wars and Close Encounters of The Third Kind movies are released which indicated a paradigm shift in the way outer space and extraterrestrial life is presented to the public, Apple, Commodore and Radio Shack (Tandy) released the first personal computers for sale to the public, which foretold the quantum leap in the way people would communicate almost a generation later. 1977 seemed to be more of a cultural shift than news events shift.

1965 - United States ground troops land on Vietnam soil, the Anti-war movement heats up, Malcolm X is murdered, the Watts riots in L.A. begin a decade of violent conflict and escalation of civil rights movement, Hippies make their first impact with a counter-culture appearance, A Soviet Cosmonaut makes the first 'space walk' in known human history, UFOs become part of the mass consciousness with hundreds of sightings.

1953 - The Soviet Union successfully explodes its first hydrogen bomb; 8 months after the United States exploded theirs; thus escalating the arms and cold war, The United States and North Korea sign a peace agreement ending 4 years of war. The United States overthrows the democratically elected Iranian President MohammadMosaddegh and installs the repressive dictator Shah of Iran, a move that came back to haunt the U.S. in the 1979 hostage crisis. 1941- The U.S. enters WWII with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Germany invades Russia.

Snake years have been prodigiously eventful years. 1929; was the stock market crash and the beginning of the great depression. 1917; the United States entered WWI and the Russia revolution brought the communists to power. As stated above, this will be a Water Snake year, the last water snake year was 1953. See that year for possible correlation and foresight into events in the year to come. The last Snake year (2001) was a metal (element) Snake and brought human initiated disaster and war, the 60 year Chinese calendar animal-element cycle tells us the last metal snake year was 1941 (Pearl Harbor and U.S. entry into WWII, human created disaster and war).

I won't play the fortune teller here because that is not my gift. My gift, my passion is pattern recognition. To be able to step back and gaze the big picture to see the arrangement of diverse events and energies into a cohesive unity of design.

Humans are cyclical beings, and mass human consciousness is not an easy entity to make sense of. Past historical events never change, they are a set pattern. All that changes about history over time is that the authentic reasons for past events can become clearer, in essence one is able to see into the past events more deeply, to behold the results of something gives insight into the motivations. To behold a pattern of human behavior, mostly unconscious, cyclical behaviors that are hardly predictable; but gives one an intuitive sense of what is to come. Sometimes looking back for the patterns can shed light into the future.

May the Chinese year of the black water snake bring enlightenment and peace to you.